Kira Reon
by evenstar8705
Summary: Kira Nerys had two brothers. One of them follows her footsteps into the Bajoran Resistance. He uncovers the connection between his family and Gul Dukat but pays the price.
1. Chapter 1

Kira Nerys led her remaining brother out into the wilderness and away from their internment camp Singha. They avoided the Cardassian guards and ducked down into a tunnel that went beneath the barbed wire fences. Once they were in the obscurity of the trees, they retrieved their slings, bows and arrows. They found stones along the ground to serve as further ammunition. Maybe they would get lucky and catch some small game. Nerys didn't really believe that, but she wanted to talk to her brother one last time before she left to join the Resistance. She didn't want him to be completely in the dark and angry. She knew Kira Reon. She would have reacted the same way if he up and left in the gray twilight with no explanation.

The pair of Bajoran siblings looked like living scarecrows. They were lean and hungry with nothing but rags on their bodies and rags wrapped around their feet instead of proper shoes. They shared the same red hair from their father which was bound to darken to auburn when they grew up. Kira had her father's brown eyes as well while Reon had his mother's blue eyes. He had no memories of their mother, and Nerys had only a few. She remembered that she had blonde hair and sculpted pottery and painted icons before the camp. Nerys had been three when their mother died of malnutrition and Reon was only ten months younger.

Kira Reon was waiting for his sister to speak. She was the eldest and more than just a sister to him. Nerys had been forced at an early age to accept the role of the only woman of their family. She was almost a mother to her little brothers. Their baby brother Pohl was only an infant when their mother was taken. Bajoran babies depended on their mother more so than some species. The mothers carried them for five months and shared so many blood vessels. Their milk was vital as well, and Pohl wasn't ready to be weaned, but the Cardassians and the universe didn't care. It was a miracle that he had survived to his eighth birthday. He had died a few winters before, victim of starvation, just like his mother.

Their father Kira Taban had done his best. The siblings didn't blame him one bit. There was no paying work in the camps lately and their rations became more meager than before the past year. Pohl had the odds stacked against him. Taban tried to make his garden grow. He begged the Cardassians to look at his children and have mercy, even though it was humiliating. Nerys and Reon tried to hunt, beg, scavenge, and steal. There was scant wildlife and edible plants beyond the fence. Singha camp was placed in inhospitable land on purpose. At least they had all tried.

Reon and Nerys were made closer from their loss. They were now twelve and eleven. They played spring ball since there was little else to do and played deadly games of hide and seek with the Cardassian soldiers. They learned to hunt and trap. The occasional meat they caught was enough to get them by for the past three years. It was all training for Kira Nerys. She had dreamed of joining the Resistance for a while. She just needed to break the news to him.

"I have to leave tomorrow," she announced.

"I saw you packing your bags. Do you have to do it?" he asked. "Father wouldn't stop crying. If you join the Resistance, you could be killed!"

Nerys sighed, "Did father explain what will happen if I stay?"

"No."

"Reon, if I stay, there won't be any increase in our rations. We lost Pohl already. You or I will starve next. I might as well leave and let you have my share. We still have too many mouths to feed as it stands."

"No!" he insisted. "Let me go! You have always known best how to take care of our father! You know how he gets! He stares into space until you throw your arms around him and kiss him. He would ignore me and Pohl."

"It has to be me. This isn't your decision. With mother gone, it's my parental prerogative!"

"That's not fair! That shouldn't count! You're not the mother!"

"Fine, but I'm still your elder!"

"You have to do better than that, sis!"

Reon didn't have hair quite as red as hers, but he was just as stubborn. Nerys stopped them both in their tracks. She had hoped to avoid fully explaining.

"I have to do this, brother, because you and father will lose me anyway. It's only a matter of time. Do you understand?"

"No!"

"The Cardassians will take me away any day now. It'll probably be that same Cardassian soldier that has been haunting our camp lately."

"You mean the one that kept trying to comb your hair and offered us sweets? But he seemed nice!"

Kira Nerys winced, "Please tell me that you have not accepted anything he offered you?"

"Why?" Reon asked with alarm.

"I promise I won't get mad or tattle to father. Please! You have to tell me the truth!"

"I took some sweets, yes."

His sister squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. Reon immediately realized he had done something terribly wrong, knowingly or not.

"Nerys, what is it?" he cried. "What did I do?"

"Reon, the Cardassians never give anything to Bajorans for free. Now that soldier can come back anytime and drag me away as payment for our 'debt', no matter how small. He's justified to them. You didn't know. I'm not angry! I almost took bread from that snake and father stopped me just in time."

"But shouldn't he take me instead since it's my debt and not yours?" he was confused. "I'm the one that took the food!"

"Cardassians prefer little girls, that is why," Nerys said flatly. "They'd keep me long after the stupid debt was paid and send you and father some extra rations. That sounds nice, but the amount would be an insult and not worth it!"

Reon began to understand her now. He hugged her and began to sob. She started to cry too.

"I've lost my mother, my brother, and now I'm about to lose you! No, Nerys! Why is this happening to us?"

"Because we are Bajorans!" she answered bitterly. "So now you see why I have to go. One of those snakes will come for me eventually. It has nothing to do with you! Got it? Please tell me that you do!"

"I do!"

"Swear to me that you will join me in the Resistance someday. Help me fight the Cardassians and drive them off our planet! We'll be brother and sister in arms as well as in blood! Until then, take care of father! Swear it!"

"I swear!"

"Remember that I'll pray to the Prophets every dusk. I'll face the horizon and pray for you and father. Will you do the same?"

"I will!"

"Good! That way, we'll know exactly what we are doing and saying at the same time no matter what! I love you, Reon!"

"I love you, Nerys!"

"Survive! Do you hear me? Survive!"


	2. Chapter 2

Kira Reon entered the ruined temple eagerly. He wasn't happy that the sacred site had been desecrated, but his heart was soaring. He was finally going to meet his sister again after four long years. He had dyed his hair black. Red-headed men inspired violence instead of lust in Cardassian men. He had become a better hunter, organizer, and found work where his father couldn't. He wouldn't call himself well fed, but he managed to get enough calories to maintain a lean muscle to his figure.

He was escorted by a monk. He had to respect the former temple clergy. If they were caught openly worshiping they could be executed on the spot. The Cardassians thought the Bajoran religion silly superstition that needed to be stamped out. They were told like children to believe whatever nonsense they wanted but to keep their ideas within their own homes and heads. It was unfair. Bajorans didn't proselytize to outsiders unless they asked and their religion was so ingrained in their culture, it was hard for the common man and woman to suppress their spirituality. Frankly, they shouldn't have to.

His sister was kneeling before the brazier of the temple. She had relit it and was boldly wearing red temple robes. She was no nun, she was a warrior, but she was one of the most spiritual people that Reon knew. Her hair had grown so long and was still naturally red. She refused to dye it and Reon was proud. Uncompromising Kira Nerys was his example to live by. Her eyes filled with tears when she saw him. She extended her arms for a full embrace.

"My little brother!" she gasped with emotion.

"Big sister!"

Reon threw himself into her arms. He was not ashamed of his tears with her as witness. Who else could he share his feelings with? It had been four years! They held each other for a long moment of time. He felt like a child again and stopped longing for a brief respite for his sister and mother. She was here. He kissed her on the lips with overflowing familial affection. She kissed his nose ridges, brow, and both cheeks on his whiskery face.

"You're trying to grow a beard at fifteen?" she laughed. "You're a man, Reon! I missed watching you grow up! Damn Cardassians!"

"Your hair is so long!" he gathered a strand in his hand and kissed it, not caring that it tasted and smelled of smoke and oil.

"Did you pray every dusk like I did?"

"Of course!"

"Good boy!" she patted his head.

He laughed, "Still trying to mother me?"

"Now more than ever! I've missed you!"

"I missed you, Nerys!"

"How is our father?" her voice lowered.

"Better. He's a whole man most days. He has a haunted look, but his garden has started sprouting again. A lady friend comes by once in a while to perk him up. The Cardassians have been harassing us far less. He didn't try to stop me from leaving at all. He simply nodded and requested that I remind you of his love."

"Oh, father," her voice broke and she squeezed him in place of Kira Taban. "You mentioned a lady friend? Are we going to get a new mother?"

"No," Reon insisted. "She is just a friend. I promise."

"It wouldn't upset me or our mother if it grew into something more than a friendship."

"It would upset me!" he snapped.

"Why?"

"Because our mother was a martyr and without compare. She was his one and only true wife. If he does anything with that woman, she'd be no better than his comfort woman!"

"Don't say that, Reon! The Cardassians have turned our men upon our women enough! I don't want to hear such things from you!"

He felt stricken. He supposed it was true. Besides a few old and unwanted women in their camp, the Cardassians had taken all of the female population for themselves or they had escaped into the Resistance or off planet. If he saw women, they were usually comfort women out on errands. Sometimes their masters allowed them to work and took their earnings for themselves. Less generous masters kept them locked away or literally chained in bedrooms.

The woman that kept visiting Kira Taban was a 'retired' comfort woman. He saw marks still on her skin where she had been manacled for years. If Reon wished to take a wife or lover, he would have to find her in his Resistance cell. That thought allowed him a new topic of discussion.

"I had hoped I would be recruited into your cell, Nerys," he told her. "So that we could fight side by side like we said we would."

"You know that's not wise," Nerys admonished. "Family members need to be spread out through the organization, if you can call it that. If our cell was compromised, father would really be the last Kira."

"Yes, but it still hurts. I allowed myself to nurse a dream. I have to settle with praying at dusk until this Occupation is at an end."

"Prayer is always a good thing."

"Is it?"

His sister's smile faded at that, "What do you mean?"

"Nerys, I don't think I have faith in the Prophets anymore."

She looked like she wanted to hit him but restrained herself, "Why, Reon? Doubt can be a good thing but-"

"It's not doubt. I just hate them."

She did slap him for that. He glared at her but didn't strike back.

"Will you let me explain?" he asked.

"You'd better!"

"Nerys, I don't understand why they would let this happen in the first place let alone for nearly fifty years! Look at this temple! They didn't protect it or their faithful! They let our mother and brother starve!"

"That's the fault of the Cardassians, not the Prophets! Reon, your anger and hatred is misplaced. Use it like I do: Against the conquerors and infidels!"

"Nerys, I watched more children die while you were gone. I listened to our father babble about our mother in his sleep. He talks like she's still alive out there somewhere. That's crazy! He's crazy! I've been beaten and humiliated working the fields so that the Cardassians can gobble it up! Look at me!"

He tore off his tunic so that she could see the angry welts, bruises, and cuts in his back. Some of it was no more than a few days old. She almost reached out to touch the nearest wound and thought better of it. She cupped his face instead as he continued telling her of his suffering.

"I had to work fourteen hours straight in the blazing sun and freezing cold rain. They made me dig trenches and clean the sewage systems. The comfort women never have to do those sorts of things!"

"No!" Nerys snapped. "But you don't have to deal with the indignity of a Cardassian scaled organ being forced inside you and having some of your pagh ripped out when they're through! And some of them still beat the girl for it!"

That put a chill down his spine, "Nerys, I heard you just escaped from a Cardassian prison. Did they do that to you?"

"No, thanks to the Prophets!"

"Thanks to the Prophets?" he said doubtfully.

"Yes! There's no other explanation for it!"

"What did they do to you? Were you tortured?"

"They held me for only a few days before the rest of my cell arrived, Reon. They went about the standard procedure of identifying me, stripping me, and exposing me to the tame version of interrogation. That's all, though. They got nothing from me and were only in the mind game stage when Sha- my leader rescued me."

"You almost slipped a name in there, didn't you, sis?" he teased.

She cracked a smile, "You caught me!"

"I'm so relieved to hear you are alright. I worry about you."

"And I worry about you! That's my job as the big sister!"

The monk that was standing nearby cleared his throat and a brunette beauty with green eyes came in to collect Nerys. She pierced Reon with those lamps and made a seductive noise of approval.

"Where have you been hiding this hunk? Can I play with him?"

"Sisica!" Nerys giggled. "He's my brother! Curb your libido or I'm telling our leader what you said!"

"Tattler!"

"Sisica isn't her real name, by the way," his sister whispered to him. "She teases all the boys!"

Reon didn't care. He wanted to follow Sisica and his sister out of the temple, but he was lucky they had been able to arrange this meeting. He kissed her one last time. Nerys held him until Sisica pulled her arm.

"I love you!" they said at the same time.

"Don't forget to pray at dusk, even if you're angry with the Prophets!" she said encouragingly. "Let them find you again!"

"I'd rather have my family than faith at the moment. They can't even grant me that!"

"Oh, Reon!"

"I've got a mission coming up. Wish me luck instead of a blessing."

"I'll give you both, you stubborn ass!"

"I'll take it."

He grinned but his heart was heavy. He had no clue that would be his last time seeing her.


	3. Chapter 3

Reon approached the leader of his cell with apprehension. He was still quite new to the Resistance and had only done a few missions before. They had been mostly reconnaissance and information gathering, no assassinations or bombings or anything of that sort. He wasn't yet trusted enough to use any real names, first names or surnames. He hoped that this would be the mission that proved he was loyal to the Resistance and immune to fear and corruption. He held his breath, waiting for instruction.

His leader was a Bajoran woman with caramel-colored skin and honey brown eyes. She had shaved her hair and tattooed herself with Bajoran scriptures. She had ugly scars upon her face she had chosen not to cover up. Her eyes were as cruel and calculating as a Cardassian high officer. Reon knew better than to ask her history. That would be dumber than asking for her name. With Bajoran women, the story was usually similar to another woman's. The only difference was the degree to which they had been abused.

"When are you going to stop dying your hair, boy?" she said with amusement but no smile.

"When Bajor is free."

"More likely when you run out of dye. Did you get to see your family member?"

Reon nodded, wondering how much his cell leader knew of his personal history and family. He got the feeling that it was plenty. There was admiration in her eyes. Shakaar's cell was becoming a quiet success story amongst the Resistance communicators, the secretive agents that kept their guerilla war thriving as much as they could. The cell leaders knew which soldiers were most promising.

"That is good. Family is important. They are who we fight for, even if it is only for their memory. We are blessed whenever we can enjoy their company while we are alive."

"So say the Prophets," he prattled the appropriate response by habit.

"Ready for your next mission, boy?"

"Aye, sir."

"There is a suspected Collaborator within the Singha Camp itself. You are to investigate the subject."

Reon bristled at the very idea of Collaborators in his home and asked, "Who is the target?"

"It is a monk named Trentin Fala."

At that, Reon felt as though someone had socked him in the gut and blurted, "There must be some mistake. Fala is our teacher of the faith. We have all known him for years. How could he possibly be a Collaborator?"

"No one likes the idea of one of our clergy being so underhanded," she lamented. "But there is too much suspicion surrounding him as of late. He has never labored as young men like you have. Fala is not yet a very old man, that is true, but Cardassians think anyone approaching old age are useless mouths. They bury them alive whenever they get the chance. Not only has Fala been ignored a long time by the Cardassians, he has not starved and continues to teach the faith practically in the open. Some might say he is of strong faith or stupid, but I wonder if it isn't because he is being protected."

"I know why you chose me for this mission," Reon said with a heavy sigh. "I have known Fala my entire life. He taught me and my siblings our prayers, bouncing us like a grandfather on his knee. He will trust me. This is going to be difficult, but I will do it. I pray that I will clear his name rather than drag him in for such a despicable crime."

"So do I, boy. Do try to investigate the matter to the fullest. Do not jump to conclusions or dismiss any leads."

"Of course not, sir."

"Go with the speed and blessing of the Prophets!"

Reon knocked on Fala's door the same evening. After so many years with the camp established, Bajorans were allowed to trade some of their tents in for small huts. The monk answered quickly and eagerly when he saw who the visitor was. Fala was a middle aged man with thinning brown hair and dark brown eyes. He had a kind and quiet demeanor typical of most monks.

"I'm always happy to see one of my Kira neighbors!" he said with such merriment. "Come in, young Reon! You have no work today?"

"No. The Cardassians didn't pick me for a shift today."

"I've never understood why they can't just give all the Bajoran lined up for work humane shifts instead of selecting only a few to mince fourteen hours like meat in a grinder!"

"That would make too much sense, Fala. They want us to be hungry for the work and immensely grateful for the scraps they reward us with. They want us to compete with each other just like they love watching us fight over our remaining women like wolves gnashing their teeth for bones. If a man loses control and becomes violent, they can justify treating us like animals and not sentient beings."

"By the grace of the Prophets, the next generation will not have to suffer through this Occupation or the Cardassians will see their light and wisdom," the monk made some religious gestures.

Reon groaned, "The next generation will be more Cardassian than Bajoran if the conquerors have their way. More and more abominable hybrids are born each year and not all of them are sterile. They plan to breed us into oblivion. You know that, don't you?"

"Not even Cardassians like those mongrels, though. They'll keep enough of us around to keep breeding comfort women. The beauty of our women will be our saving grace."

"If that's so, then the Prophets are disgusting creatures!" Reon said cynically.

"Kira Reon!"

"I apologize," he said lazily.

Despite his blasphemy, the monk welcomed Reon into his home without question and offered his a bowl of watery soup. He felt guilty accepting it, but it was rude and would have aroused mistrust to turn down food during the Occupation for any reason.

"It's been a long time since I heard any news of Nerys," the monk said as he slurped. "I worry about that girl."

"She got a job in another province," Reon lied.

"Oh? Which?"

"She never said."

"What direction did she head toward when last you saw her?"

Reon shrugged and tried not to show his confusion on his face. Why was Fala asking so many pointed questions about his sister? Who was supposed to be under investigation here? It was a bit odd.

He must have given himself away somehow because the monk explained, "She was my favorite student. She was a rabid debater, asked many questions, but no child learned as much as she. She challenged me often. Imagine, a babe, causing a monk like me to fumble as she did."

"I recall that she could be quite rude about it," Reon snickered.

The monk lowered his voice to a whisper, "You know you don't have to lie to me. You Kiras are all horrible liars. I know your sister is in the Resistance."

"How?" his heart sank.

"It seemed painfully obvious to me. Where else would she go, a fierce girl like that?"

"She wanted to avoid the life of a comfort woman."

"I understand, but to run off to the Resistance?" Fala shook his head. "Reon, I hope you don't join up with them too. They do more harm than good. Now why have you come to visit me?"

Reon used the excuse that his father was having spells again. Perhaps a blessing by a monk and spiritual counseling for both father and son would help them? It didn't hurt his credibility that everyone knew Taban was a little cracked. Seeking religion was a natural option to pursue. Taban was a spiritual man and Reon was displaying his doubt without reservation. They had no medical care beyond first aid available to them too.

"I see," the monk nodded with a smile. "Let me go and have a talk with your father first. Then you and I can pray and go over scripture. It'll be just like when you were a little boy."

"I will finish up my soup, if you don't mind."

"Take your time."

As soon as Fala left, Reon searched the home for bugs, secret doors, and compartments. He tried to be as swift with his sweep as possible and to remember to leave things as close to how he originally found them. He discovered a stockpile of rations that was a discouraging sign. He hadn't seen so much food in a Bajoran home for a long time, especially in the home of a man that had supposedly not had any sort of work. His faith in the monk was shrinking by the moment.

He left the rations alone, ignoring his growling stomach. The soup had only whetted his appetite. Instead, he snatched encrypted data chips he found in a Bajoran holy book. He had a device that could unzip and read the data the Resistance had given him and what he found was absolutely disturbing.

The data contained hours and hours of recordings of his family over the years in the camp. Fala had filmed mostly the children without their knowledge or consent. There were images of Nerys and Reon playing spring ball and reciting their prayers. Most of all, the videos seemed to focus primarily on his sister. He didn't have time to watch it all, but he played one of the earliest recordings, his heart pounding.

"Look into this device, little one," Fala was talking to a four year old Nerys and using his most paternal and pleasing tone.

Nerys fixed her big brown eyes into the optic lens. She had been slurping down watery soup like Reon only a moment before. She was missing her front teeth and her hair was wild and her face dirty. She had always been one of the more active children of the camps.

"Good girl!" Fala praised her. "Now tell me something: What would you say to your mommy if she was here with us right now?"

Little Nerys burst into tears, but she said very sweetly once the priest had soothed her, "I would tell her that I miss her and love her so much! Daddy said she's never coming back. I get so sad that my tummy hurts and I dream about her."

"It's getting better as time goes on though, right?"

"I don't know."

"Well, how much do you love mommy?"

"This much!" the girl stretched her arms as far as possible, wobbling on little legs to keep her balance.

"Aw. That will make mommy feel so good to see you say that, little darling. She loves you so!"

That made Nerys smile, but she was too shy to show teeth or lack of them.

"Say goodbye to mommy for now, Nerys!"

"Bye, mommy!" she blew a kiss.

That particular video ended.

"What sort of sick nonsense is this?" Reon exclaimed to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Reon knew he shouldn't be doing what he was about to do, but he couldn't stop himself. He couldn't just pretend he didn't know that Fala had been spying on his family for years. He couldn't wait for him to return to confront him either. He found the monk with his father in their home, chatting to Taban as though nothing was amiss. Reon drew a knife and held it at Fala's throat.

"Son, what are you doing!" his father cried and Fala froze.

"You need to see this, father! Then you need to explain yourself, holy man!" Reon said his last words with such contempt.

"Oh no!" Fala paled when he saw the data chip.

Reon played back the recording he had found and showed his father that there were countless hours more. Instead of exploding into a rage like him, Kira Taban was silent and still. Instead of babbling excuses, Fala slumped his shoulders and shut his eyes. Reon chaffed at the lack of action.

"Fala, do you care to explain?" he asked through gritted teeth. "You are a Collaborator! Confess it!"

"I was told to watch over your family to protect you. I would hardly call that collaboration! I never harmed you and tried to steer you from danger. My main goal was to keep you and your sister out of the Resistance, but I fear that I failed doing that. Both of you are too belligerent to stand idly by while others suffer. That's admirable, but foolish!" Fala said everything in one rushed breath.

"Who was giving you rations in exchange? If it was a Cardassian, any Cardassian, you are a Collaborator!"

"Fine. It was someone incredibly high ranking in the Cardassian military. That is all I know of the 'who'. I never met him and was ordered and supplied by a Bajoran. It was a woman that you might know, in fact."

"Who? Why?"

"It was your mother and it was for her sake."

Taban threatened to keel over for a moment, and then regained his previous stoicism. Reon glared at him, all his anger temporarily flying at his particular person rather than at the monk.

"Father, what does that mean?" he demanded. "My mother Kira Meru is supposed to be dead! Why is Fala talking in this video as though she is alive? How could she provide him rations?"

"She was alive, Reon."

"Put the knife down, child! Please!" Fala begged.

"I'm not convinced that I should yet! Someone tell me what the hell is going on! Now!"

Taban moved with a speed and power that Reon had never seen him display before. His father was a pacifist and a believer that no action should ever be hurried unnecessarily. His attitude frustrated him and his sister to no end some days. He snatched the knife from Reon's hand and pulled Fala away from him to a safer position at his side. Then he pointed his son to a chair.

"I will tell you the truth if you behave like a man and not a terrorist. I supported you and Nerys entering the Resistance, but I didn't raise monsters. If Fala is a Collaborator, so am I, you, Nerys, Pohl, and your mother. Do you really wish to reveal that to your cell? What will they do to us? What will they do to your sister? I know if there's anyone in this world you care about more than yourself, it's her! Think of her!"

"I don't understand!"

"I lied to you children about what happened to your mother. She didn't die of malnutrition. She was taken to become a comfort woman."

"_No_!" Reon clamped his hands over his ears. "Anything but that! Please tell me that isn't true!"

"She was rounded up with other women. They seized her and took her away. She didn't go willingly. Do you know what happens when the women resist? We were parents of three children, one of which was a girl! If a man refuses to give up his wife, sister, or daughter, the entire household is punished. The males are slaughtered and all the girls enslaved. You must know this already. We would have lost your sister and mother if I dared intervene. At three, they would have placed her in some safe house to be trained until she was of age, but her fate would have been sealed!"

"But why didn't mother try to escape? Why didn't you seek out the Resistance to rescue her?" Reon wailed. "_My mother_!"

"She was too heavily guarded and taken off planet with her new Cardassian mate almost immediately, my son. How was she going to escape what was essentially a prison in space? Why would the Resistance blow such resources on one comfort woman?"

Reon knew everything his father was saying made sense, but at the same time, it made no sense! He bit back tears of pure fury and cursed because they had taken his knife.

"Now I understand why our rations halved overnight," he said aloud. "Was that when my mother really died?"

Taban couldn't speak and made no sign. Reon turned to Fala.

"She requested you to watch over us? She still loved us?"

"Of course she did, Reon. No real mother would ever forget her children. I was always a friend of the Kiras. She was able to persuade her master to see her children grow up through me. He provided rations to you and me."

"Why are you still getting rations? Why are you still spying if my mother is dead? Who took her and why did she die? Did the Cardassian murder her for resisting his advances or trying to escape? Where the hell was she while Nerys and I were crying for her at night? Pohl still needed her milk!"

"I don't know exactly who owned your mother. As far as I know, he treated her well. How many other Cardassians allow their comfort woman to keep tabs on their Bajoran husband and children? They send a sad amount of rations in exchange for her. This Cardassian was very generous. Your mother Meru was an exceptional woman, Reon. Even those snakes couldn't resist loving her. I told you the beauty of our women is our saving grace. If not for that, the Cardassians would have simply destroyed us all in a great sweeping genocide."

"Don't be so naïve!" Reon shouted. "They needed slave labor! They wanted every scrap of Bajor's resources! For that reason, they couldn't possibly use bombs or other methods of mass destruction. That's why they rely on starvation tactics. They chose a slow and prolonged death for Bajor. Slaking their lusts on our women was merely a nice bonus for them! I am young, but I understand this too well!"

"Well, whoever it was that kept your mother possessed her for seven years-"

Reon let out a lengthy anguished moan.

"She was kept seven years on the space station of Terok Nor. She grew ill. I'm not entirely sure what caused it. Maybe it was exposure to something in those mines. Maybe she was poisoned. Some Cardassians do that when they tire of their women. They don't like the idea of returning them to their Bajoran husbands. They stint at the thought of another Cardassian enjoying their girl. I only know that she was placed in hospice and expired quickly. Her master took another mistress not long after."

"Who is this Cardassian? Are you lying when you say you don't know? Father, do you have any clue?"

Taban's eyes looked dead and he acted as though his lips were sewn shut. Fala had to answer.

"The Cardassian continued his interest in your family. In fact, his obsession has centered upon your sister Nerys. Meru didn't want her daughter to go through what she did. She knew not all Cardassians are as gentle as hers turned out to be. She got the best circumstances in the worst kind of circumstances."

"You mean she accepted her fate? She let that Cardassian violate her? She might have even liked it?" Reon was thrashing his head and arms in anger. "My mother allowed herself to love the enemy? Is that what you are saying?"

"Not at all. Remember, your mother was selected. She didn't volunteer. Most comfort women never volunteer! Is that what you've been led to believe? Haven't you met enough former comfort women to know that they never had a choice?"

"But those in the Resistance escaped! They fought tooth and nail! They're killing Cardassians now. They don't accept their fate meekly! They don't lie on their backs and let-"

Taban opened his lips and raised his voice louder than Reon had ever heard, "Your mother never _let _anything happen to her. I didn't _let _the Gul take her! She was the bravest woman I ever knew. I loved her. I still love her. I never blamed her for a second! I will not allow you to think ill of her! Your reaction is exactly why I never told you or Nerys. I couldn't bear the thought of you hating her. She was no Collaborator. I don't believe Fala is either. Now let this go!"

"Let it go?"

"Yes. And swear to me in the name of the Prophets you will not tell your sister."

"She has every right to know!"

"She might accept it even less than you are accepting it right now! Don't tell her!"

"I need to know what really happened to my mother. I need to know who it was that ruined our lives! Until I know all the details, I swear I won't tell Nerys. But when I do, nothing will stop me from revealing it to her and together we will murder the Cardassian that did this to us!"


	5. Chapter 5

Reon should have gone to his Resistance leader and cleared Fala of suspicion. Or he should have shown her the evidence that he was a spy after all. But he was fifteen, inexperienced, and he was burning with anger, vengeance, and doubt within his heart. He didn't have his sister's resolute faith. Being betrayed by Fala, even if he thought he had been doing good for the Kira family, had been the last straw for him when it came to matters of the Prophets. He let his personal vendetta guide him off planet and to the space station of Terok Nor.

He used an alias to bribe his way into a freighter with supplies on its way to the station. He had never left Bajor before and he was terrified of space. The ship was outdated and dubious and operated mostly with computers and machines for that reason. He had no horizon to pray to, but he told himself that he was risking all for the sake of his sister. If Fala was right, and the same Cardassian that had stolen their mother and possibly murdered her was gunning for the daughter, he had to learn who it was.

The station didn't seem like anything special. The Cardassians weren't masterful artists like Bajorans. It looked like an oil rig floating in suspended animation with a simplistic design a child could have drawn. There were similar stations throughout their part of the quadrant. He heard rumors that they worked miners to death and the Prefect of the Occupation himself commanded all operations from this place, gazing down at the planet of Bajor and thinking of it as his personal prize and the station as his playground.

Many, if not all, of the highest ranking officers of the Occupation made obligatory visits to the station. It was the place that Kira Meru had been held captive for seven years. Reon was convinced he would find his answers here. The place was dark, hot, and dismal, just as the Cardassians liked it to be. Bright lights hurt their eyes, their physiology meant that they were cold-blooded, and the miserable conditions were evident everywhere.

Reon tried to remain hidden inside the cargo bay as long as he could get away with. All he hoped he needed was access to the computer system. If a Cardassian saw him, they'd certainly throw him into the mines and he would catch his death there. The aliens were everywhere. He waited for the miners to get off their long shifts and tried to blend in amongst crowds. Groups splintered off to either race straight to their blankets, to the bar, or to the chemist shop nearby.

Reon almost went for the bar, but he noticed a lot of Cardassians gambling and leering at the comfort women entertaining there for the night. The bartender was an ugly Ferengi. Reon was xenophobic by nature and knew the reputation of that particular species. The chemist shop was brightly lit, full of nothing but Bajorans and Vaatrik the chemist himself was providing medicine and ointments, not cheap booze. The young Bajoran was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

"Do you happen to have hair dye?" Reon asked.

Vaatrik was a handsome Bajoran man. He had dark hair and emerald eyes. He gave Reon a friendly smile and reached out to touch his roots. Reon slapped his hand away.

"You are a natural red head, huh? How unfortunate. Do you have a color preference?"

"Black."

Vaatrik nodded sagely, "That is the safest choice. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to emulate the Cardassian bastards."

"As much as I hate it, that is true. How much do you need for me to pay for the vile stuff and will it damage my scalp?"

"You really should shave your whiskers. My stuff won't harm your scalp if you apply it correctly, but if you want your beard to match your head, you risk the skin of your face and chin," Vaatrik advised. "I won't charge you for your first purchase if you do that as a favor to yourself and to me. The Cardassians don't like facial hair any more than they like flashy red hair on a man."

"How do you know it's my first purchase? Do you remember the face of every customer?"

"I don't have the photographic memory of a Cardassian, but without facial hair, you would look twelve years old. You're as green as spring grass. How old are you? Sixteen?" Vaatrik began to guess.

"Close."

"What is your name?"

"Atreyu Lai."

"Well, Atreyu, here is some black dye."

"Thank you. May I ask you some questions?"

Reon had decided he could trust the chemist. He seemed genuinely helpful and had added enough disparaging remarks toward the Cardassian masters. He had watched him slip ingredients to some customers. They all responded to him positively. Would the Ferengi have given him a free gift and information his first day?

"Ask me anything, young man."

"How long have you been on this station?"

"I would venture to guess about ten years, but that is an approximation."

"Ten? How have you managed so long without getting thrown into the mines?"

"I'm a chemist by trade so even the Cardassians are forced to put some stock in me. If their medical officer goes, I'm the next best thing."

"Have you ever known a comfort woman by the name of Kira?" Reon asked urgently.

To his utter disappointment, there was no hint of recognition in his eyes when Reon spoke that name. He repeated it with her first name and even threw out her maiden name. Perhaps his mother had been too ashamed to soil the Kira name. Maybe her 'mate' had forced her to take some insulting Cardassian name. Mate or Master was a much kinder word for what he was: A rapist. Just like comfort woman or mistress was a much better title than what his mother had become: A sex slave.

"I am sorry, young man, but I don't make a habit of learning the names of Cardassian lovers," Vaatrik said with a bit of an edge. "Don't let them catch you asking about a woman. They might get jealous and punish not only you but whatever woman they keep."

Reon cursed to himself and began to ask more Bajorans how long they had been on the station. If it had been long enough that there was a chance they had seen her, he asked if they knew Kira Meru. He got no feedback except for some terrified and stupefied looks.

Now he decided to risk hacking into the computer system. He had only a basic understanding of Cardassian technology and was relying on tools to do the lion share of the work. He had no choice though. He had arrived with no allies. The Resistance would have never approved of this mission or risked a techie.

He was deep under a computer terminal, fiddling with the wires, half paralyzed from curling himself into a small, enclosed space. He was sweating through his clothes, getting thirsty, hungry, and his head pounded. He felt like a vole hiding from the snakes. He had been at it for hours when his device flashed at him, signaling that he almost had access. He restrained himself from fist pumping with victory. It was incredibly short lived.

He was seized cruelly by many strong Cardassian hands. He cried out, but there was no one to help him. His hacking device was smashed and its parts quickly scooped up to be analyzed later. He struggled, but there were bonds set around his wrists, ankles, and wrapped around his throat, partially strangling him. He wondered how they had found him so fast.

"Don't hurt him any more than you already have," said a voice that sounded as though the speaker was always terribly amused by something. "He belongs to me."

"Yes, Prefect."

Reon's eyes filled with terror as the Prefect of Bajor stepped into the dim light. He was handsome. Even Reon could see that, and he thought all Cardassians were exceptionally ugly. His ridges and bones seemed sculpted perfectly to his face and body. Nearly all Cardassians had gray eyes to match their gray and scaly skin except for the smoother parts on their face and hands, but this one had piercing gray eyes that could twinkle and shine and burn with a deadly gleam on the turn of a dime. His hair color and texture was also typically Cardassian, but very sleek and fine. In his full Cardassian armor, he looked tall, broad, and intimidating. Reon realized he was looking at one of the most powerful men in the galaxy.

"Blindfold him. You know where to take him," the Prefect ordered.

"We obey, sir."

They obeyed like well trained dogs. Reon was led to an elevator and they seemed to be going down to the lower parts of the station. He tried not to exhibit fear. He fully expected to be tortured within the hour. He was surprised then, when he was sat in a comfortable chair, his blindfold was taken off, and the Prefect sat the opposite side of him at a fine table made of Cardassian black oak. He was drinking spring wine, a beverage preferred by Bajorans, and he was chomping into fruit. There were no torture instruments anywhere. He was in a luxurious apartment of some kind.

"Where am I?" Reon asked.

"In my quarters, son."

"Don't call me son!"

"Ah, but you practically are. Hungry?"

"No."

Reon's stomach growled noisily and the Prefect sneered. He skillfully used a knife to peel the skin from a delicate fruit in his hand and took a crunchy bite. Then he washed it down with his spring wine.

"Fala was right, you know," the Cardassian whispered. "You Kiras are terrible liars."

"Fala betrayed me?" Reon hissed. "I'll kill that monk!"

"Son, Fala was mine by proxy, but it was my Collaborator on the station that alerted me to your presence."

"Vaatrik the chemist?" Reon would have struck himself if he wasn't bound.

The Prefect's smile was like a terrifying grimace. Reon struggled with his bonds and cried out in frustration. The Cardassian watched him squirm and looked almost bored.

"Who are you? I know you're the Prefect but-"

"I prefer to be called Gul Dukat, son. Since you are here snooping about, I might as well save you time and give you the answers you so desperately want. You practically threw your life away trying to get answers you should have never sought in the first place. I am the one that took your mother for my own. I am the Cardassian that has been watching over you all your wretched life. I am not your biological father, but I am your 'spiritual' father, I suppose you could say."

Reon trembled with rage and hated. He thrashed about wildly. He wanted to throttle Dukat. He wanted to dissect him on his own proud black oak table imported from his terrible hellish planet. He wanted to send this reptilian demon back to hell. He wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face, rip his armor off, and break his every bone, undo every tendon, and shatter every ridge in his body.

"I have something to show you, son," Dukat rose from his seat and made his station window a large screen. "Your sister was captured recently. She was rescued by her cell, but she was interrogated."

"Oh please no!" Reon's anger evaporated instantly. "Don't show me that! I don't want to see it! I can't watch my sister get tormented! Don't make me do it!"

"You wanted to know everything, didn't you?" Dukat turned to him sharply. "Well, you're about to get it! Be careful what you wish for!"

"Why in the name of all things holy and sacred would you make me watch such a thing?" Reon wailed. "You sadistic spoon-headed snake!"

"Because I want you to be as proud of your sister as I was watching this footage. After you watch it, you'll know your sister better."

"No!"

"If you turn your face away or close your eyes more than a few times, I'll bring a torturer up here!" Dukat threatened. "I'll be counting! Don't make me hurt you, son. I promise you Nerys won't be hurt too much. I was controlling everything from afar, after all. I couldn't possibly hurt the children of the woman I loved without good reason, after all."

"My mother-"

"Is not the subject of the conversation for the moment! Watch!"

Reon squirmed with anguish and discomfort as the scene played out on the screen. He wished she was in her place. Watching it was killing him.


	6. Chapter 6

Kira Nerys had been wondering what took the Cardassians so long to come for her. She had been kept in a tiny room with only a slip of moss-colored cloth covering her body. She was given water but no food for three days. There was only a bucket in the corner of the room to serve as her lavatory. She was grateful she could only make water and only had to deal with the smell of urine. The room got no heat and was so cold she could see her breath whenever she sighed.

They collected her and brought her before her interrogator. The room was as chilly as her prison and the chair they sat her in was made of cold metal with straps on it. The Cardassian had a desk with a single light on it and a tray of drugs and torture tools nearby. He was wearing extra layers of warm cloth under his armor so he looked more padded than the average Cardassian. She thought it made him look a little silly and clung to that humorous thought, trying not to notice the torture tools.

"Kira Nerys?" he spoke her name.

She refused to acknowledge him.

He touched the light as it lit, "What color is this light?"

She stared blankly at him. She wasn't going to play this game. She knew the standard protocol of these interrogations. It was best not to say anything, not even snarky comments. She was clutching a tiny blue bottle in one of her hands. For some reason, the Cardassians had forgotten to strip search her thoroughly and she had managed to keep her numbing agents. She was as prepared for pain as she could possibly be. She was determined to hold out as long as she could. They said everyone eventually broke under Cardassian torturers, but there had to be a first time for everything.

"Take off your clothes!"

She gave him a defiant look.

The Cardassian rose and ripped the slip from her, exposing her entirely. She shuddered from the cold but refused to be ashamed even when he hissed at her and leered. She had expected just such a thing and the cloth hadn't hidden or warmed much of her skin anyway.

"What color was the light?" he asked again.

They stared at each other a good fifteen minutes in heavy silence. He was attempting to rape her with his eyes, mind and body. When a man was stripped, it didn't seem to bother them nearly as much as it did women. They acted as though simply being seen naked was a violation. Not Kira. She looked bored.

"Who are the other members of your Resistance Cell?"

She folded her arms across her breasts, tapped a foot, and began mouthing Bajoran hymns, refusing to make a sound.

"Stubborn Bajoran bitch, eh?" the interrogator said gleefully.

She shrugged.

The Cardassian raised a hose and blasted her with scalding hot, pressurized water. It was a shock and painful because her skin was so clammy and cold. She was so thirsty that she opened her mouth and drank some of it. She was drenched quickly and the water was shut off promptly. Her red hair dripped and her fingers dripped. Her skin was wet, red, and glistening.

"What color was the light?"

Instead of blasting her, he began to approach her with a needle. Kira panicked a little. She was convinced some of the real torture was about to begin. She swallowed her numbing agent in a lightning fast gulp. The Cardassian's face was stricken with fear, not concern.

"Nerys, what did you just take?" he demanded. "What did you do?"

She almost laughed.

He feared she had taken cyanide or some other suicide drug. If a torturer killed a victim or allowed them to die carelessly, they were severely punished. The Cardassian cradled her for a moment, checking underneath her eyelids and forcing open her mouth. He shoved a funnel with a little rubber hose down her throat to induce vomiting and pump her stomach if he had to, but the agent was swimming in her blood now.

He succeeded in making her vomit violently. As she heaved in the corner, the Cardassian waved a poison snooper over the blue bottle. She had let it fall to the floor. He was relieved that it wasn't identified as a known poison, and Kira showed no signs of expiring. He would have to test the trace amounts of solution later.

He sprayed away the vomit and scalded Kira again for good measure. Then he placed her back into the chair, strapped her in it, and he blindfolded her. He mixed a cocktail of drugs. Its main purpose was to remove Kira's inhibitions and break her silence. She felt woozy a few minutes after he injected her and her tongue was loosened. She'd make the Cardassian regret that.

"What color was the light?" the Cardassian tried again.

"Blue, but I'm sure you want me to eventually say it's red, right?" she snapped.

"Are you Kira Nerys?"

"I'm a stubborn Bajoran bitch! That's what you said! And you are a torturer!"

"Who is your leader?"

"Ah, yeah, I'm not telling!"

He slapped her around a bit, but they seemed like light taps rather than heavy blows. She was a little confused. She didn't think her numbing agents was that good? Even a light tap near her nose caused some bleeding at her ridges. Bajoran noses were so sensitive!

"Go ahead!" she gnashed her teeth. "Beat me and ruin my value as a comfort woman!"

"That's what you should have allowed!" the torturer stopped to say. "With that lovely hair and body, you would have been pampered! I would take you myself. You would never miss a meal, you could soak in warm fragrant water, and you would sleep in the most comfortable bed money could buy. You might even be loved!"

"Love?" she snickered. "Cardassians think that word and concept is too sentimental and archaic! I don't want to experience your concept of it! Never!"

"Stupid slut!"

Nerys cackled at him, "This is the reason why not even your own women want you! I prefer Klingon men! Now there's an impressive empire with a warrior race! I think they'd annihilate Cardassia in a war! That's why you rape the planet of a peaceful people instead!"

"Bajor is a tactical choice," the torturer scoffed. "That barbarian race have rocks for brains. Cardassia never loses, and you've never had a Klingon!"

"Sure I have! I've had Ferengi too! I'd rather have one of those ugly trolls inside me than a Cardassian!" Kira hooted.

"You are a virgin!" the torturer declared. "And a poor liar."

"You don't know that! You couldn't possibly know that!"

He was right in her ear and his hand on her arm, "Oh, we know, Nerys! We have more information on you than you could imagine! We can also smell better than your species. Our senses in these particular matters are quite heightened and accurate."

"How stimulating!" she said sarcastically. "Still not interested!"

"I know you have a brother named Reon. We have him. Would you like to see him executed? How about your father Taban on Bajor? We could go pick him up for you."

"Show them to me! Until I see them alive with my own eyes, I'm not falling for the threats to loved ones!"

"Clever whore."

"Am I clever or stupid? Make up your mind!"

"Do you wish to die, Nerys?"

"It wouldn't be the end of the universe," she said flippantly. "I'll release my pagh out into it."

"You know that doesn't exist. You would die here and that would be the end."

"That's why you'll lose this war for Bajor, Cardassian! None of you believe anything is sacred. You'll give up when there's nothing material to fight for. It's why you carry out selfish and immoral orders. It's why none of you ever seem to be truly happy or value life!"

"Dying is easy. Breaking your body might make you talk."

"Talk, but not necessarily say whatever you want!"

Nerys expected terrible pain. She was waiting for it. Thank the Prophets for the aid of chemicals. But the Cardassian didn't reach for his torture tools, not that she could hear of it. He unclasped her bonds, tugged her by her long red hair and pressed her against the wall. She felt his foul hot breath in her face. His voice became husky and cruel.

"Spread your legs!" he ordered.

"No."

"Talk or I will rape you and bring more men in here after me! You really will be ruined forever as a comfort woman when we are through with you!"

She shuddered but answered, "It's not the end of the universe!"

"It will be the end of your universe!"

"Stop threatening it!" she shouted. "Just do it and get it over with! There's no way you'll last longer than this conversation has gone on!"

He yanked her hair and bit savagely into her throat, leaving teeth marks in her skin. She felt no pain but was repulsed. Then he wedged his knee between her legs and wiggled them apart and let his knee remain there for a full minute. He was panting like an animal in her ear. She didn't know how much longer the drugs and numbing agents would last.

How many men would it take before she felt it in her most sensitive parts? She had no clue, but she knew the Cardassians. They would probably use every man in the barracks. She'd feel it perhaps by the third man or the fifth or the tenth. It was too easy to brutalize her in this way and the Cardassians got too much out of it.

She heard the torturer fumbling with his belt and almost sobbed. She had been trying to avoid just this thing for so long. She braced herself, but the Cardassian seemed to be hesitating. She preferred that he hurry so no moment of her agent would be wasted. She was a virgin, but she could tell he wanted it! What the hell was he waiting for?

They heard gunfire, shouting, death cries, and other sounds of battle, interrupting this terrible interrogation. Nerys recognized some of the voices and her heart leaped. The door to the torture room was opened. Her captor released her to utilize his weapon, but Kira snapped his neck ridge in just the right place. He keeled over dead instantly. Even blindfolded, she found that weak spot. Now that she knew the prison was under attack and her allies were there, she knew she could get away with killing him and didn't hesitate.

"Prophets, Nerys!"

"Edon?"

Her body was breaking down. She'd used the last of her strength to kill her tormenter. Shakaar Edon caught her in his arms as she began to fall. She was still naked and wet. She was famished and weak. She'd had enough of being brave and tough. With Shakaar's arms around her and his rough voice in her ear, she began to cry like a little girl and the only coherent words she could sob was his name.

"Edon! Edon! Edon!"

"Nerys! Oh, Nerys! It's alright! You're safe now! You're safe, I promise! It's alright!" Shakaar soothed and rocked her.

"Kira?" Sisica was there.

"Please get her some proper clothes, will you?"

"On it!"

Shakaar took the blindfold off her and wrapped his coat around her like a blanket and tried to rub some warmth into her bones. She was still sobbing pitifully and repeating his name. He repeated hers back at her and kept rocking her for a long time. She'd never forget that harrowing interrogation or the tenderness her leader showed her. She didn't break for the Cardassians either and was glad when she saw the reptilian body lying on the floor.


	7. Chapter 7

Reon was sobbing by the time Nerys was in the recording. The sounds of his sister crying like that tore at his insides. Dukat didn't seem to like it either. He had the grace to at least pretend to look sorry. He made a motion in the air, as though he wanted to stroke her image on the screen and comfort her himself. Reon wanted to do the same. Thank the Prophets for Shakaar!

He winced every time Kira was harmed. He gnashed his teeth when the torturer threatened her. He had panicked when they drugged her. She had assured him she wasn't hurt or raped when he saw her last, but how could she possibly remember what had been done to her if she was drugged? He was relieved she seemed to have gotten away with minimum harm done. She hadn't lied to him.

It took them both some time to recover from watching that.

"Why the hell did you let that happen to her?" Reon demanded his anger reawakening. "You allowed them to drug her, hit her, threaten her, and nearly rape her! You said you were watching it live and in control?"

"It wasn't live, but if that Cardassian had truly harmed or touched her, I would have had his head on a silver platter. He knew it and was only performing a show. Shakaar rescued her, but I protected her. Her Prophets had nothing to do with it. I am her guardian. She just doesn't know it or appreciate it yet."

"How could you allow even a show?" Reon snapped. "My sister!"

"You learn the truth about a man or woman when you put them in such extreme circumstances. It was a show, but it was all too real for Nerys. I know your sister far more intimately thanks to it."

"You're a sick bastard! You're a special kind of sick Cardassian!" Reon ranted. "And why the hell would you force me to watch that?"

"I wanted to show you something in particular, Reon. Look closely," he skipped back near the beginning of the video and began to zoom the video in on Nerys.

"That's my sister, you scaly beast!"

Dukat gave him a withering look, "And you accuse me of being perverse? I'm not overexposing her genitalia, son. Look at her eyes."

Reon didn't trust Dukat and wanted him to stop calling him 'son'. He shut his eyes and Dukat slammed his hand on the table, trying to startle his eyes open.

"Look, I said! Need I remind you of the warning I gave you earlier?"

Reluctantly, Reon opened his eyes. The footage was zoomed in on Kira's face, not her body. Dukat hadn't lied thank goodness.

"See that within her eyes?" Dukat spoke in a strangely soft and hypnotic voice. "The defiance? There's fear, of course, but she'd be stupid not to have a healthy amount of fear. Fear is a survival tactic. Your sister is not stupid. That's the spirit of your people right there in her eyes. There's defiance, beauty, grace, and a cunning not unlike a Cardassian's. There's anger, hatred, and passion. I've never seen anything like it! It's fascinating and lovely!"

Reon stared into Kira Nerys' face and tears burned in his eyes. He was already convinced that he would never see her again. He drank in the image, not in the sick and perverse way that Dukat did. He was simply a brother gazing at his beloved sister. Her brown eyes were as gentle as their father's when she softened. That was the look he liked best, not this provoked glint. He saw what Dukat wanted him to see, too, and he was fiercely proud of her. He began to mutter a prayer.

"Your Prophets won't help you here, son."

"I'm not your son! I'm the son of the Kiras, Taban and Meru!"

"Meru was my mistress and I had her more times than your father ever did. I kept her longer."

"You mean you raped her!" Reon roared.

"Funny, she never said 'no'! She was grateful and loving. She never denied me no matter the hour or state she was in."

"Doesn't that seem the least bit suspicious?"

Reon savored a small victory as he saw doubt creep into Dukat's eyes, if only for a fleeting second. Then his confident sneer reappeared.

"No," he said it so dismissively. "And you don't believe me, but I deeply loved her and you by extension."

"Then why did you abandon her in that hospital?" Reon spat. "Why let my baby brother Pohl starve? Why stalk Nerys like a predator waiting for her fruit to ripen for you?"

"I couldn't return Meru to her family, not even in the very first few days! Another Cardassian might have claimed her instead and hurt your family. Not even the Prefect of Bajor can entirely protect a Bajoran woman during an Occupation! I didn't understand Bajoran family dynamics at the time or I would have at least sent a nurse to care for Pohl! The neglect of milk permanently damaged him. I regret that, but no one told me! She didn't even tell me her youngest was still an infant. She told me when she got ill she never wanted to return home."

"I don't believe you!"

"It's true! Her family and society would call her a traitor and whore for entertaining me, willing or not, for even an hour! I sent those rations to your father for many years."

"Why did they stop?"

"Ask your precious Resistance!" Dukat said viciously. "Your father was forced to stop accepting them when you fell under suspicion."

"Convenient that my mother died around the same time!"

Dukat's expression saddened, "Meru realized her illness was likely terminal. She was more and more depressed when she learned her youngest son had died and the rest of her children weren't getting rations. I put her in that hospital because she would receive the best care there. I wanted to hire a personal doctor and bring them here to Terok Nor. I hated being separated from her. The doctors began to suspect that her illness was entirely psychosomatic. I didn't poison her, son. I promise you I had nothing to do with it. Meru is the one that gave up, not me. She was refusing her treatments. I suspect she convinced the doctors to euthanize her."

"No!" Reon howled.

"I loved her, Reon. If you believe nothing else that I have said, believe that. She was mine for seven years, and they were the happiest of my life. She made them warm and joyous. She could make me laugh like no one else, and her paintings and sculptures were beautiful. This painting behind me is hers. It's landscaping on Bajor. An art collector offered me a fortune for it and wanted to know the artist. I refused to part with it and protected your mother's identity."

"What about my sister?" Reon growled.

Dukat began sneering again, "I've kept her safe."

"What?"

"Who do you think has kept her files hidden? Why do you think this torturer restrained himself? Look!" he froze the screen on the Cardassian's face. "All men like him at least receive training from the Obsidian Order. I hate that organization for my own reasons, but I also personally hated this man. He misused his comfort women and killed more than one. I couldn't touch him because I was of lower rank ages ago. I thought it would be a special treat to unleash Nerys upon him. He had no idea who he was dealing with! She didn't disappoint me! I laughed so hard when she snapped his neck! He desires her almost as much as I! Can you see it?"

"I don't want to!" Reon closed his eyes.

"He is so frustrated!" Dukat laughed manically. "He has a beautiful and vulnerable, soft, smooth woman before him! She's naked and cold! She should be bargaining her body for mercy and freedom. He aches to make that body sing with pleasure or pain. To a torturer, such music is the same to their ears. Do you have any idea how difficult it is for a Cardassian to deny his needs?"

"I don't want to know!"

"And look at Nerys!" Dukat laughed harder. "The numbing agent she managed to get in proves how amateur that Cardassian was! He's lucky it wasn't a euthanasia drug of some kind. I might have lost my precious Bajoran daughter. It's entirely involuntary, but she's taunting him with her body language! The eyes are the most obvious, but she's spreading her legs here just a little. She licks the water from her lips there. She's trembling with rage, but it might as well be desire. Her spunky repertoire is typical of Cardassian flirting! Her breasts-"

"Please stop!" Reon cried.

"There's pheromones too. He can smell them. She keeps tossing back her hair-"

"Dukat, I'm begging you to please _shut the hell up_!"

"She's become the torturer, Reon! I would invoke your Prophets if I believed in them. I love that girl!" Dukat sighed sensually. "And that's why the Cardassian hesitated. It's why Nerys has never been snatched as a comfort woman. I put her on a list of protection. She was actually quite safe in the camp. None of those soldiers that came around to taunt her would have ever taken her home. I would have heard of it and within four hours I would have been at their door to take her away from them and execute them slowly. It was always just wishful thinking on their part."

"What do you expect to get from my sister?" Reon asked. "She'd never break for you, you know that? She's not my mother."

Dukat said confidently, "The day she breaks for me and loves me is the day that I win!"

"Sick! You're so damn sick, Cardassian! I thought you loved her as a daughter and me as a son! Doesn't that add a layer of incestuous motive to your thoughts and deeds?"

"It's true, son, that you and Nerys are almost mine as much as my other children. But the fact is you are not biologically mine. You are not even the same species. I couldn't save Pohl, but as Meru's only daughter, I confess that I have always prioritized her over you. So sorry if you feel neglected."

"I wouldn't want your kind of attention!" Reon burst. "And you'll never have my sister! Stay away from her! I swear I will kill you and every member of your Cardassian family!"

Reon tried to spit at him, and Dukat's eyes lit with a cold and dangerous gleam, worse than anything he had seen before. He truly looked like a Wraith.

"Now my affection for you is wearing thin very quickly," he sighed. "No one threatens my children! No one, not even a Kira."

"I'll tell everyone about this!"

"No, Reon, my son," Dukat said regretfully. "I'm going to kill you now. I'll make it clean and quick and plant evidence that you were the Collaborator all along. I hate to kill Meru's last son, but if I have to sacrifice one child to save my others and keep Nerys from learning the terrible truth, I will."

The last thing Reon saw was his sister on the screen as Dukat slit his throat and a sweet memory of playing spring ball flashed in his brain. Nerys and Reon were children and little Pohl was merely watching, too young to participate. Nerys was giggling happily and the Bajoran suns were shining and warming their skin, making hers glow. Reon missed the ball and fell into the grass, slamming hard. His sister screamed his name shrilly and all went black forever.


End file.
